Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 41, Number 96, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 August 1909 — BASE BALL. [ARTICLE]

BASE BALL.

No sport in any clime lias as may adherents as that of base hall. A good common, old name it is true, and equally true, one of the most common of sports. The price of a bat and-a bdfll, a vacant lot, and there you are. Most all other sports require more or less preparation. The sport itself being so clean and wholesome as a recreation, having embodied in it every incentive that appeals to the American boy spirit, is it any wonder each succeeding year finds an ever increasing army of supporters necessitating sumptuous and commodious quarters for the patrons and players ? The future of the game has naught but the brightest hues. The patronage increases yearly. The club owners of the great leagues are astute to seQ that to be of permanent success the game must be kept clean—first of gambling, secondly of rowdyism. The lesson of what lias killed the great race course has not been lost upon the base ball fraternity who are looking after their financial investments. In a horse race, the principal actors are the horses, but on the ball field your own flesh and blood are before you and the merest novice can soon catch on if a ball player doesn’t play the game. That same novice would be as a rule a poor judge of horses. The ball player knows his audience is critical. He knows the average school boy is well up in the points of the game. He therefore is not in a position, before so many critical eyes, to not “tote fair” in his play and its the history of the game so far, that its a very difficult matter to “throw” games. Indeed as a matter of fact, a game could not. well be thrown unless with the connivance of several players, and in the shuffling and the changing of players from one club to another, or the dropping out of some altogether, such plots would stand a chance of. coming to light. The fact that no great scandal has come to light thus far is all the evidence needed t 6 stamp base bast as the cleanest sport on earth. Self preservation is generally the first rule of man and in base ball each player stands solely on his record or his merit. Fear of being delegated to a minor league or being supplanted by the many aspirants for his job, keeps him ever keyed up to his highest and best efforts. Keenly indeed does he feel if benched” during the progress of any game. It is true that objections are raised at times, but to the sport itself there is no objection from a physical standpoint. No part of the body is left undeveloped, even the lungs come in for their share and possibly in too much “lung expansion” exists one of the objections, as a crowd of boys can disturb the quiet of,any settled neighborhood during the excitement of the! game—indeed their own fathers can’t produce enough noise to suit the occasion when at some of the great games. - On the ball field, all participants senses are strained to the utmost. The mind, nerves, muscles, sight and hearing, are on the “quivive”—in fact in. close contests where the score is 4 to 3 in last inning, bases full, batter on the 3 side has only one strike left, the tense situation arrests the attention of all in the stands. There is breathless silence. Whatever physical position one is in he remains just so till the spasm is over. He may have partly arisen in the excitement. He clutches unconsciously, desperately, any article he may be holding, indeed a picture of him would be ludicrous. Mouth partway open, the keenest anxiety depicted on his face—all over a man with a bat who is trying* to hit a little round ball. This then is only one of the many situations with the man at the bat as just described. A second later, pandemonium may break loose as the batter sends out a one, two or three baser, or a home run, then the roof trembles with the shouts that go up in the air and the batsman is a hero. Praises without stint are his. On the cars home his name is on every lip—but presto! Suppose he strikes out, all you hear is prolonged sighs and groans as the crowd exhausts its pent up breath. Great is base ball, the king of all sports in the hearts of the American people. Long may it wave. From present indications there is no danger of the wave receding.